Ramechhap, July 3

Manthali-Khurkot road section that connects Ramechhap’s Manthali with Kathmandu has become dilapidated.

Vehicles plying beyond capacity of the road and substandard black-topping have led to the road’s dilapidation. The road was black-topped six years ago, however, it was repaired a year later after the black-top started peeling off.

The 16-kilometre road stretch from Manthali to Khurkot is full of potholes and cracks, giving a hard time to vehicles. Driver Santosh Ray said the sorry state of the road had given them hard time driving on the road.

According to transport entrepreneurs, it takes more than one hour to cross the 16-kilometre long road.

The road section gets dusty on sunny days and muddy with rainfall. Heavy vehicles have been banned from plying the road. But large vehicles do ply the road. The under-construction hydro power projects in Dolakha and Ramechhap in addition to the operation of tippers have only added to degradation of the road.

Division Road Office, Khurkot, Engineer Ram Bahadur Biswokarma admitted that the road’s condition was degrading day-by-day. He said the road could not be repaired this year due to lack of budget.